By Bartholomew Madukwe

Foremost constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay, SAN, has flayed the paltry vote of N67 billion earmarked in this year’s budget for the operation of the third arm of government, describing same as a setback for the judiciary.

Sagay, who spoke with Vanguard on telephone, explained that the judiciary, today, needed enough money to upgrade from the hand writing practice in the country’s courts to modern ways of recording court proceedings.

He said: “The budget for the judiciary is inadequate. I think it is a setback for the judiciary. We need a government, particularly the executive, which appreciates the importance of the third arm of government as a matter of culture and duty.”

According to him, the reason the third arm of government was not getting enough money from the budget like other arms of government was due to its lack of bargaining power.

“The judiciary does not have the bargaining power like the legislature has by approving budget. They, infact, add money to the budget, in their favour. We need to have a culturally elevated standard to reason that whether the judiciary has the bargaining power or not, it is as well important. We dare not leave the judiciary behind in the budget,” Sagay added.